Heaven's Lost Ed
by Matfix
Summary: This is a response from H-Man89995 to my challenge. He told me to post his story along with the chapters to it on my profile. When an unidentified mysterious animal crashes onto the Junkyard, the Eds' lives will never be the same again! Let's hope the neighborhood can take these new and strange invaders...
1. Fallen

Hiya, folks! How many of you like crossovers? *sees all the raised hands* Great! And how many of you like mature content? *sees some of the hands lowering themselves* Oh, come on! That's not really fair, now is it? I'm not talking about porn or anything!

…although I can't say it's not like it doesn't belong in mature content. But nonetheless. The following is meant to be a smart crossover between two series that would fit surprisingly well together, all things considered, and I think that once you're done reading it, you'll be sure to agree. There may be some heavy moments, but nothing too bothersome… er, I hope.

At any rate, enjoy!

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><p>It was another boring summer day in Peach Creek. Birds were singing, pants were dead, and the local Cul-de-Sac kids were having fun together, as they were always wont to do. Right now, they were playing a fun game of tag football near the playground, although it was mostly a game between local tough guy Kevin, foreigner farmhand Rolf, and local weird kid Jonny, with Nazz, Sarah and Jimmy watching from the sidelines.<p>

Normally, the peace and quiet would have been ruined by our favorite trio of scammers and friends, the mismatched boys collectively known as the Eds, but today the kids at the cul-de-sac had nothing to worry about, being too busy with their own games. The truth was that they were currently hanging out at their 'Central Command', the name they had given to the awesome van they had found during one of their earlier misadventures that year. While Ed made loud vehicle noises, Eddy focused on working the steering wheel, using a pair of platform shoes to slam on the pedals.

"Alright boys, let's get ready!" he declared, with a grin. "We're approaching Fort Knox! It's time to use the Eddymobile's weapons to invade and conquer!"

Edd barely held back his own chuckles, as he saw how much the others had gotten into it. His imagination was working just as well, so he could picture the group on the road to an even bigger version of a giant money strongbox, but he also pictured all forms of guards and defenses ahead of them. "Eddy, there's still time to turn back!" he said, pretending he was concerned. "We don't need to do this!"

"Oh please!" was the response, maybe a bit more bitter than expected. "It's the chance of a lifetime! This is our only chance to do what no other criminal masterminds have ever done before!"

"And it means fighting English supervillains, Double D!" Ed added, between loud noises. "Like the Smug Man and the Smog Man and the Rain Man!"

"I don't think that last one was a British supervillain, Ed-" the sock-headed boy let out, just before Eddy slammed on the brake; to simulate the effect, Ed pushed their seats as far as they could, throwing them against the van front. "-OOF!"

"Grr… way to go, Lumpy!" Eddy complained, the short boy taking one look at the window. "Activate all weapons!"

With that, Ed suddenly started yelling out a whole lot of sounds, between WHOOSHes and KABOOMs and RA-TA-TA-TA-TAs. That in itself was pretty surprising, but the most impressive part was how the big yellow boy was managing to cry out in stereo. Even Edd and Eddy were staring at him with eyes wide, like the time when Edd had revealed himself to be a prodigy at the steel pedal guitar.

After doing that for a minute straight, Ed suddenly stopped. He tried doing some motions with his hands, but his mouth only let out the sound of a gun clicking uselessly. "Out of ammo!" he let out, after that.

Eddy took a couple of seconds to react. "H-huh? Oh! Right!" he let out, turning back to the window. "It seems like we've got most of the guards, but the building is still stand-"

A loud noise broke their attention again, although it wasn't just a noise; Central Command was rocked like crazy, sending the boys against the walls of the van and rolling like crazy, the water bed shaking like it was made of gelatin or something. Once everything stopped spinning, the Eds took a couple of seconds to recover, eyes still closed.

"Ugh, what just happened?" Eddy groaned, shaking his head only to find it made him even dizzier. "Was that an earthquake or something?"

"Eddy, Peach Creek isn't even close to the edges of the North American seismic plates," Edd explained, hoping he could keep his breakfast in his stomach even now. "It was also too brief to be a proper earth tremor, at any rate."

"Maybe it's an alien probe sent by the planet Zoltar!" Ed suggested, currently upside-down and with his head having bent the van's flooring somehow.

After getting out of the van, they saw that the big mountain of garbage piled up right besides their van had just disappeared somehow. "…what was that?" Eddy asked the others, as they stared at the crater that had formed right there.

Edd scratched the back of his head, unsure. "I don't know, Eddy… I admit I wasn't looking over there when the garbage tower exploded like that, but there isn't much that could have done this."

"Ooh! Ooh! It's an alien probe sent by the planet Zoltar!" Ed repeated, grinning. That only led to another groan from the other boys.

"Ed, I'm sure that it would be nothing of the sort," Edd said, even as Eddy started to approach the crater. "Of course, it could have been a meteorite or even one of the satellites that have been falling back on Earth these last few months, but-"

"Well that's got to be the weirdest satellite I ever saw!" the short boy interrupted him, drawing their attention. He looked awfully sweaty and nervous now, his face having turned redder than it usually was. "Check that out!"

As they looked past the crater's limits, Ed and Edd's eyes widened in a way that only happened when they were truly scared or shocked, and sweat started to pour down their faces. Lying on the ground was a big girl, at least as tall as Edd (hat included), with red hair and pale skin. She was dressed in what seemed like a white dress, although whoever had designed it had no sense of when to stop cutting; there was nothing on the neckline aside from a big black collar, and her dress started on her chest, while her cleavage line went as low as her bellybutton.

Not that any of the Eds had noticed that yet, because their eyes were practically glued to her large breasts, which were almost completely exposed thanks to the cut-off nature of the dress. Then there was her skirt, small enough to barely cover her bottoms, and designed to not give much modesty to her as well; Eddy was the first one to notice that, as well as the way her boots and stockings were designed.

But it was with a strange, ruffling noise that the three finally noticed the most surprising feature of that girl. Behind her, spread onto the ground, was a pair of pink-ish wings, quite large and spreading through much of the crater's bottom.

Edd was the first one to speak. "What… what is that?" he let out, looking at the wings with plenty of curiosity. Eddy was busy gauging the attractiveness of the girl to the fact that an entire mountain of junk and garbage had been destroyed and their van was nearly sent flying away.

Being unused to such attractiveness, it won by far against his better judgement, so much so that he hadn't even noticed that yet.

However, the short boy didn't have a chance to act on that either; Ed suddenly smiled in that dopey way of his. "Look, guys! It's a harpea!" the yellow-skinned boy cried out, climbing past the crater limits and starting to go downhill.

"What do you think you're doing, burrhead?!" Eddy let out, as both he and Edd grabbed onto his jacket and started pulling back; just because he wasn't really scared of the girl didn't mean he thought it was a good idea to let Ed trample his way forward like that.

"But Eddy! It's a cool harpea!" Ed answered, not losing his initial momentum. Edd forced his feet down to the ground the best he could, feeling it grind and push up dirt, but he refused to let go even as his friend dragged them along.

"Ed, listen! You can't just go around looking at things just because you think they're 'cool', or else you're going to…" Neither Ed nor Eddy were really paying attention at this point, as the sock-headed boy started yet another one of his rants, and the former started resorting to stomping his way forward to the unconscious girl. With one last big step, he swung both arms forward, finally loosening them from his friends.

Of course, neither of them expecte the loud WHUMP that came when Double-D was unlucky enough to meet his namesake facefirst, the large and soft breasts quivering and wobbling. Despite their softness, they were solid enough that his head was stuck, as he discovered when trying to pull it out of there.

Eddy would have yelled at Ed for being a moron, but the sight of his other best friend stuck on a girl's breasts was too unfair and hilarious for him to ignore. "Come on, Lumpy, we've gotta get Sockhead out of there!" he said, and Ed saluted with one finger on his nose.

"Okey dokey!" he declared, grabbing onto Edd's body and starting to pull. Much to his surprise, however, his mighty strength was not enough to rescue Edd from the bountiful prison he was trapped in, and it took a few more pulls before he managed to - the last pull being so hard that Ed fell back against the crater wall, Sockhead in his arms.

For a few seconds, Edd could say nothing. To begin with, he was still out of air, and the struggle to get out of that trap was enough to exhaust him significantly. More importantly, however, Eddy had his hands on the girl's shoulders, having pulled her as well to try and get him out. And yet, he was glaring at him, quite frankly.

"E… Eddy?" he breathed out, at last. The short boy continued to glare at him for a few more seconds, before finally speaking.

"How was it?" he asked, his tone surprisingly restrained compared to the glare he seemed to be giving. After he didn't answer, Eddy pressed on. "Come on, what was it like?"

"What was it like to… what?" the hat-wearing boy repeated, not quite sure, and then the other boy rolled his eyes.

"Why am I not surprised?" Eddy finally smirked in that way that could be so annoying at times. "Hey Burrhead, check it out! Double-D just got to first base with that girl's chest and he doesn't even remember it!"

"Double-D found treasure?" Ed asked, the expression flying over his head faster than a cruiser at full speed. "Oh boy, Double-D! I never saw you take that girl's treasure chest and take it to your secret base! How did you do that?"

Edd was too busy going red at what Eddy had said to try and make sense of Ed's insane ramblings. He just tapped his fingers for a few seconds, his sweat building up by the bucketload now. "U-um, I, er…"

Eddy would have found the scene hilarious, but years of dealing with Ed meant he could tell when saying something would lead to incessant and needless questioning, and this was clearly one of those times. "Like I said, he doesn't even remember it, Lumpy," he said, hoping that would end Ed's interest in the subject for now. Then, he propped the girl back into a sitting position. "More importantly, what do we do with this girl?"

"Obviously we should take her to the hospital at once, Eddy!" Edd managed to say, after wiping his brow with a sterilized handkerchief he always kept at hand. "She must have injured herself when-"

"Injured herself? Are you kidding me?" the short boy cut him off, moving her arms and head awkwardly. "Just look at her! There isn't even a bruise or dirt on her! And not even a bit of junk underneath!" While he continued to fool around, making her breasts bounce with each action and driving the other two boys back into a sweaty, nervous state, he pulled on one of her wings. "And look! These things are stuck to her! She's like an angel or something!"

"D-don't be silly, Eddy…" Edd let out, nervous. "E-even if they existed, it's not like a-angels would h-have genders, and… well, I'm s-sure that n-none of them would look female…"

"Do angels fall like shooting stars?" Ed asked, both eyes aimed at the exact opposite direction from each other. "Ooh! Ooh! Let's find more angels!"

Edd struggled to sigh. "Ed, I already told you, there is no such thing as angels…" he said, looking away from her just enough to speak reasonably again. Eddy tugged on her wings.

"Well, either this is the most realistic mannequin I've ever seen or this is an angel, guys," he said, before lowering his arms with a huge grin. "Can you imagine how much the kids would pay to see a real angel?"

"Eddy, that's not an angel." Now the hat-wearing boy was starting to get unhappy, as he made his way to Eddy. "Angels are just the figments of an overactive imagination created by a strong belief in religious concepts which are, in and of themselves, not necessarily real. I'm sure there's a logical explanation behind this…"

Just as he had grabbed onto her arm, however, the girl's eyes opened, revealing a deep red color that seemed to lack in actual irises. "…h-huh?!" he let out, just as the other Eds realized something had changed, trying to get a better look at her.

"Beginning Imprinting…" she said, in a low and sweet voice, before the chain on her collar started to form. Edd's eyes widened as the chain materialized from nowhere, going down to where his hand had been, and following it all the way to his palm - where it suddenly wrapped around, tightening in the most realistic manner he had ever seen.

Their jaws fell as the girl loosened herself from Eddy's grip, kneeling before him. "Greetings, My Master. I am an Entertainment-Class Angeloid of the Alpha-Type, Ikaros," she said, her wings flapping a bit to adjust themselves. "I have been sent here to serve you."

There was a moment of silence in the junkyard, right after she said that.

And then there was the thud when Edd fainted and hit the ground, back first.


	2. Desires 1

Thank you all for reading! I'm glad that you enjoyed chapter 1 enough to read it and even favorite it! Just... too bad it was only four people who did that. But well, it's still a bigger number than zero so...

There's also one review! Hooray! Let's answer it:

Winky Keaton: Thanks for reading, kid! It's a pity that I can't follow most of your suggestions... see, the point of the fic isn't 'bring the Eds to Sorami' or 'bring Sorami to the Eds'. My emphasis is on the crossover aspect, which is to say, on the Eds and the other kids having to deal with the Angeloid presence. Not only that, but really, Tomoki not being Ikaros' Master... I'm sorry, it just doesn't work to me.

Still, thanks for reading, and I hope you'll have other ideas you might want to suggest! And for the rest of you, enjoy!

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><p>Groan. Noises.<p>

"I think he's waking up, Eddy!"

Another groan. More noises.

"Well, it's about time, Sockhead!"

Why was it so noisy right now?

"Are you okay, Master?"

Edd's eyes opened as soon as he heard those words, and he tried to sit up. 'Tried' being the keyword; the sudden jolt led to him hitting his forehead on Eddy's, as he realized shortly after the bump to his head.

"Ow! What's with the violence, Double-D?" the short boy asked, rubbing his head and three strings of hair in the process. Edd didn't answer at first, instead doing his best to focus on his surroundings.

They were still at the junkyard, as shown by the amount of garbage that surrounded them, and both his friends were standing close to him. At a first glance, it seemed like nothing had really changed, and the hat-wearing boy ran one hand over his forehead.

"Phew!" he let out, smiling. "It would appear I simply had a terrifying nightmare, but no more." That confused both Ed and Eddy, as they stared at him.

"What are you talking about, Double-D?" Eddy asked, and the sock-wearing boy stood up, doing his best to brush his clothes clean.

"Why, is it not obvious?" he asked them, sounding quite confident. "After whatever happened to send our good old Central Command flying, I must have knocked my head against one of the walls and collapsed into the sweet bliss of oblivion. After all, there is no way I could have ever been told that I was anyone's master, no matter what the reason would be."

Edd chuckled, right then, but to his surprise neither Ed nor Eddy had done so. "Geez, denial much?" the latter simply replied, drawing a look from Ed.

"Double-D's Egyptian?" he asked, but Eddy ignored him.

"Well, Sockhead, you might wanna check on your hand again!" he said, surprising Edd; when the latter took one look at his right hand, he saw it was wrapped in a metallic chain, some kind of harmless green pulse flowing through the links and all the way to a point he couldn't tell. And connected to the chain was…

"Are you okay, Master?"

It was to the hat-wearing boy's credit that he did not fall unconscious again, once he saw the red-haired angelic being standing right behind him, her chain nestled between her breasts. She was staring at him with a curious expression on her face, those green eyes looking straight at him in a way that made him feel quite uncomfortable, and not just from the way she was somewhat bent over him.

"I-I-I-I…" Edd stuttered, his tongue nearly tying itself as he tried to speak. Seeing how his friend was now utterly useless, Eddy decided to do what he always did in such situations and take charge of it.

"So what the heck just happened?" he asked the winged girl, tapping one foot. "Did you fall from the sky or something?"

"I don't know…" she said, her voice quiet. "All I remember is waking up after Imprinting on Master. Did something happen?"

"That's what we want to know!" Eddy snapped, indicating the crater on the ground still nearby. "Was it you who did this? Where did you come from? Why did you do that 'printing' thing on Double-D?"

"When I woke up, Master was the first person I saw," she explained, somewhat unsure. "I simply performed my necessary function…

"You mean, like a robot?" Ed asked, all smiles. "Cool! We found a real robot!"

"Ed, be more polite!" Edd admonished him. "This girl is not a robot!"

"Actually…" she interrupted him, much to their surprise, and put one hand on her collar's chain, "although it is not the precise definition… you could say that an Angeloid such as myself is a 'robot'."

Eddy blinked. "Wait, what?"

"In one of your languages, the word 'robot' would be translated to 'servant', and that is my role." Her wings flapped gently again. "I am an Entertainment-Class Angeloid of the Alpha-Type, Ikaros. It is my duty to serve you, Master, and perform whatever tasks you wish me to."

"W-w-wait… 'servant'?" Edd repeated, eyes widening, even as the other Eds heard that as well. "You mean… you have to obey me?"

She nodded. "Yes, Master. I must obey your orders."

"But I don't want you to do that!"

"I am sorry, Master." While Edd stared at her, quite disturbed, Eddy was busy taking into consideration the actual meaning of her words.

"Did you just say you have to do whatever we say?" he asked, and she nodded. "Anything? Anything at all?"

"Anything that my Master desires, I must obey," Ikaros explained, before bowing slightly. "But if the two of you are affiliated with my Master, I see no reason I should not obey your orders as long as my Master does not forbid it."

"P-please don't say things like that…" Edd requested, quite nervous now, just as Eddy got one of his nastiest grins.

"Alright, girly, here's the thing. Sockhead isn't going to give you orders unless you can prove you can really do anything we want." That caught the redhead's attention, and she stood straight again. "So, why don't you go ahead and show us what you can do? Like say, get us some money?"

"Yes…" she acknowledged, taking out some kind of plastic card with a glowing gem on the back. The Eds had just taken notice of it when it started to glow, breaking apart and reconfiguring itself into a new shape. "You wish for… money, right…?"

"E-Eddy!" Edd stammered, looking back and forth between them. "What are you doing?!"

"Oh, come on, Double-D!" the shorter boy said, a bit too loudly. "This is our chance to figure out more about her! If she wants to obey commands then why not-"

"Is this enough?" Ikaros asked, showing them the object she held; although it was like a calculator, it was quite cutesy, with the cartoonish wing on the front. The number on the screen was quite large, however, higher than any amount either of them had ever thought of.

Eddy was silent for a few seconds. "Um… yes…?" he let out, and she pressed a button. One second later, he found himself buried alive underneath a pile of something soft and paper-like, which had fallen on top of him for some reason.

A few seconds later, the short boy had managed to get his head out of that pile, though he was covered in small cuts. "Ow! What the heck?!" he managed to say, carefully; even his tongue seemed to have been cut, or at least he was worried about that.

"Oh, dear…" Edd hesitated to say, as he looked at one of the paper things on his hands; while Ed was busy poking at them, he was performing a more focused examination. "Eddy, what have you done?"

"What have I-Sockhead, I just fought my way out of this stupid pile of paper! What are you glaring at me for?" Eddy complained, only to see what Edd was holding - a 100 dollar bill. One of many, in fact, with the rest of them resting all around him.

Cash signs replaced his eyes completely at that point.

"WOO-HOO! MONEY! MONEY MONEY MONEY!" he cried out, a large grin on his face, while throwing the bills to the air. "WE'RE RICH, BOYS!"

"Eddy! What are you saying?!" Edd interrupted his cheerful cries, even as Ed started to swim on it like it was water. "This isn't a normal situation! You can't just accept it this easily and act like there's nothing wrong!"

"I should have known you'd find something wrong in us getting rich," Eddy grumbled, his grin turning into a scowl as he tried to build a throne out of the many, many bills that neither he nor Ed had managed to fool around with yet. "Actually, I am the one who should be complaining here! You managed to land face-first on the biggest pair of boobs around these parts and instead of yelling at you, she's calling you 'Master' and doing whatever you want! That's not fair!"

Edd nearly fainted again when he was reminded of his unfortunate trip. "W-well, that… that has nothing to do with this! We don't know where this money came from, and I very much doubt it's actually valid currency considering it seems to have literally been spawned out of thin air!"

Upon hearing that, the short boy took one of the notes, giving it a good look-over against the light. "Nope! No way something like this can be fake!" he declared, before smirking. "But hey! We can ask our new friend here to give us a device to confirm if these are fake or not if you want!"

"That's another thing!" When Eddy tried to make his way to Ikaros, Edd got between them. "You can't just give her orders willy-nilly! This isn't right!"

Eddy looked at Ikaros, who was looking at them in confusion, the only expression she seemed to have in her blank face. "You're making a really big deal out of this, you know."

"Well someone has to!" Edd turned back to face the Angeloid, raising his chained hand. "Take this off."

"Huh?"

"I refuse to take part in this. I'm absolutely not going to have anyone as my slave, and force them to obey orders!" he explained, quite serious. "Take it off now!"

"…I cannot."

Hearing those words literally stripped the color from Edd's body.

"I cannot remove the chain from my body or yours like this. It's the representation of the Imprinting I've done on you, to ensure maximum efficiency." Her wings flapped slightly, as she looked at him with those sad eyes of hers. "I… cannot obey that order."

"But… but that's not fair!" the hat-wearing Ed-boy complained, unhappy at this situation. "Slavery is wrong! You can't just go around, calling me Master, saying you'll do anything I ask for, and then-"

"Hey Sockhead!" Eddy interrupted this time, pulling him back. "Remember what she said? She's a robot! As in, not a real person!"

"Well I find that hard to believe-"

"I freaking tugged on her wings, Double-D! Those things are real! And she just created a machine that made us richer than ever! We don't even need to scam anymore!" Eddy's expression was strange, coming from him. He was smiling like when he had a great (and oftentimes terrible) idea, but he also had at least some degree of seriousness this time. "Do you need her to strip down and show that she's a machine or something?"

That made the boy turn red like his shirt, or even more. "N-now, now, Eddy, there is no need for such jokes-"

"Master… should I do that?" Ikaros interrupted, drawing their attention as she stood right next to them. Even Ed stopped fooling around with the money she had brought to them, while she pressed her own hands against her clothes. "Should I… 'strip down' for you?"

"NO! No! Just… just no!" Edd quickly interrupted, grabbing Eddy's mouth before he could say 'yes'. "It was just a joke! Not intended! Please do not take him seriously!"

"Yes, Master," she said, making the hatted Ed-boy sigh with sadness.

"What did I get myself into this time…?" he wondered, quite unhappy. Right before he could say anything else, however, Ed suddenly appeared right from under him, lifting his head such that now he was riding his shoulders.

"Ooh! Ooh! My turn, my turn!" the tall Ed cried out, all smiles. "I want a comic books and monster movie store that'll let me get all the comic books and monster movies I want for free!"

"Ed! What did I just say?" Edd snapped, hearing that. "You're not supposed to be ordering her around like that! It's wrong to force someone to obey you, and I have already made it clear that-"

"But I want my wish to come true, Double-D! I really, really do!" Ed begged, interrupting him.

"No means no, Ed. I think it's about time the two of you would stop indulging your exacerbated ids and started to behave more properly! Why, if you took the time to educate yourselves more adequately, I am sure that your issues with your grades and your popularity would end quite easily!"

"Wish, Double-D! Wish!"

Eddy pulled his friends' hands off his mouth, at this point, already annoyed by the growing argument. "Can you even do that, anyway?" he asked Ikaros, who stared at him. "You know, create the store and all?"

Ikaros just nodded, even as the calculator turned into its card form with a burst of light. "It should be possible, yes… this should be able to do it."

"Do it! Do it! Do it!" Ed begged as he suddenly moved towards her, Edd falling off his back from the sudden movement. "I want it to look really cool and be full of comics and movies and I want it to let me get whatever I want!"

After pulling his face off the dirt, Edd glared at him. "Ed! Stop!" he cried out, but Ikaros had already nodded. The card turned into light again, just before it took off towards the cul-de-sac.

Ed grinned as he followed it, first with his eyes and then his feet, leaving the others behind. "Wait for me, magical firefly!"

"Ed! Have you even been listening to me?" Edd complained as he ran in pursuit, his own uneasiness discomforting. Eddy was about to follow when he noticed that Ikaros had flapped her wings just the once, before she started to follow her Master - by flying.

His eyes widened as he actually had a glance down her skirt. The shock was such that he tripped on his own foot, landing face-first on the ground as well. "I can't believe this…" he groaned, his voice muffled by the dirt.


	3. Desires 2

Thank you all for reading! I'm glad that you enjoyed chapter 2 enough to read it and even favorite it! But still... only a new favorite. It seems a small amount for such a good story, don't you think?

There's also several reviews! Hooray! Let's answer them:

drake202: Thanks for reading, kid! I hope you like what'll come soon, or at least the part after this one.

Winky Keaton: Thanks for reading, kid! But... do you mind if I ask you to tone down the suggesting of ideas, in this sense? Please? You wrote multiple reviews saying the exact same thing, you know... and you don't have to worry about me not knowing the characters. I do. I even have a good idea on how to explain what's going on. I don't need to go to the wiki when I have the actual volumes and episodes here with me. I just want to make it clear that I don't want ideas on the lines of 'just add the other canon characters' or 'just have it be exactly like canon'. There are things that will have to be the same, but there are others that will be quite different, if only because the Eds are not Tomoki and his friends. Can you get that, this time?

Also, I'm not writing a Ben 10 story. I don't like Ben 10. Matfix may like it, but don't expect it from the author of this.

AMTT94: Muchas gracias por leerlo, amigo! Espero que este capítulo sea de tu gusto!

Lewamus Prime: Thanks for reading, kid! I'm sorry that you're so excited about your suggestions, but I'm not going to be using them, as you can see. I have my own ideas as to where to take this plot for now, even if not on the long run - which may be just seven chapters more, who knows?

And for the rest of you, enjoy!

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><p>It was probably to Edd's luck that nobody was around at the time, when he and his friends ran in pursuit of the flash of light. Of course it wasn't going to last forever, but given his role in the current situation, one couldn't blame him for wanting to be as far from noticed as possible. Still, as he did his best to follow Ed, he realized that their path was leading to one of the streets that led to the cul-de-sac, the transformed card heading towards one of the closed buildings. They had just seen it enter the building when it flashed brightly, in such a blinding fashion that if it wasn't because this area was, in Eddy's words, 'a total dump', there would've been far more attention brought upon it.<p>

As it was, the other business folk had to come out to see what happened, as did some other pedestrians who were nearby. Edd felt pale as he looked around, seeing a crowd start to form. "Not good… that's drawing too much attention, it's not good…" he muttered, hearing a pair of feet land softly by his side. One glance revealed it was Ikaros, who was looking at the fading light rather than at him, which only barely made him feel better – the chain in his hand only felt heavier and heavier, making him feel worse.

As they got to the building's entrance, however, the dread changed to wonder. The building itself had not changed much, other than definitely looking clean and less broken down, but the insides were illuminated and they could see movement from the inside. It also did not smell at all of dust and grime, much to the boy's relief, and there were some stands setup on the sides.

Ed stared at it for a few seconds, before the biggest smile the others had ever seen appeared in his dopey face. "COMICS!" he yelled, running inside, nearly breaking the doors. Both Ed and Eddy stared at him in surprise, before they ran in.

"Ed, please!"

"Wait up, Lumpy!"

Their words went amiss as the tall yellow-skinned boy was running all over the room, looking at the countless stocked comics and movies. "Look, guys! They have the rare #1 issue of the Action Guy! The very first superhero from New Jersey!" Ed declared, having grabbed said magazine. "And ooh! They have the whole collection for the Psycho Detectives! It was out of print for years! And"

The sudden silence took them all aback, as Ed stopped by the central stand of the store. There was a single comic there, but it was well-illuminated and covered. He was sweating now, quite nervously at that.

"The Super Sleuth Adventures, issue 97… the rarest, final issue, with only a limited run due to its lack of popularity…" he barely managed to say, his voice only a whisper. "And it's here…!"

"Um… Ed?" Edd asked, somewhat nervous. "Are… are you okay?"

Ed fell to his knees. Now even Eddy was staring at him, uncomfortable.

"This shop has… everything, guys… every single comic I want…" he muttered, before looking around. "And all the movies, too… and, and, and…!"

They could see the excitement going back, before he started to bawl. "But it's no USE! I can't ever buy all of these! They're so expensive and rare and I can't afford them and this is so terrible and WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"Oh dear…" Edd's portable umbrella was the only thing protecting them from Ed's bawling; thankfully, the other comics were protected by good plastic or glass panes, ensuring no damage would come to them. "Nothing good can come of this." As the boy started to wonder just how they would solve this issue, however, a faint sound of footsteps came from behind them.

"Excuse me?" a girl's voice said, in a faint accent. "May I help you?"

"W-well…" As both Edd and Eddy turned to face her, their current concerns changed somewhat. This was a girl about Edd's height, with some traits that reminded them of Japanese people they had seen in movies, even if they were not common in this neighborhood. She was wearing a green shirt and blue shorts, more on the hugging type than what they were used to, and her hair was a shockingly strong tone of blue, reaching down and past her shoulders. That, however, barely managed to register in the boys' minds.

Rather, it was her chest that drew their attention; out of all the girls they had ever seen in town, none of them had a bust this generous, quite fitting with Edd's nickname, if not maybe bigger than even Ikaros. Both boys started sweating just like when Nazz was looking particularly nice, while Ikaros stared at her blankly.

"…well?" the girl asked, looking at them somewhat confused. Edd managed to mumble something she did not quite understand, and Eddy realized that their tongues were going to be tied quite strongly at this rate. So he stepped on his friend's foot, leading to a sudden twist of pain from him.

"E-Ed" he squeezed out, while Eddy let his confidence build up after the subtle humiliation of his friend - something which, in times like this, was useful to getting himself back to normal.

"It's our friend Ed, see?" he indicated the blubbering boy, who was partially sniffing more than crying now. "The poor sap's just so happy to see such a shop, that he completely lost control of himself and started crying!" He grabbed Ed's head, forcing him to turn around. "C'mon, Lumpy, don't be so weepy!"

"But Eddy!" Whatever Ed was about to say, he lost it at the sight of the girl. She looked at him, somewhat worried, as his tears became sweat and he nearly melted at her feet, completely taken aback.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked him, and he trembled a bit more. "Please, tell me, mister Ed!"

"…m-mister?" Edd asked, not quite sure what to say, and she nodded.

"Of course. Should I not treat our number one customer with respect?" the busty girl asked him, and none of them quite knew how to answer. Once she realized that, she had a sweet smile. "Today is our grand opening. And well, there is a special promotion going on… the first client will be given a special, VIP lifetime pass within our store. He'll be allowed to peruse the comics and videos he likes and even enjoy them in the comfort of a special room in the back… along with any other services he may need…"

The blush in her face went right over the entire group, as Ed's smile grew larger and larger with each word he heard. "Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy! This is the happiest day of my life!" He grabbed onto the other two Eds, running in place as he did so. "Oh savior of the comic world! Thank you for saving Ed from despair!"

"You're… welcome?" she hesitated to say, somewhat nervous. "I-if you'll follow me, I'll register you into our system, mister Ed, and from then on you will be able to enjoy our services at any time…"

As she smiled, even if just that bit, Ed literally melted again. Eddy groaned as he heard that. "For crying out loud! Even a hot chick? Why is Ed so lucky all of a sudden?!" he complained, and while Ed and the girl ignored him, Edd and Ikaros did not.

"W-well, I'm sure it must have something to do with the sudden appearance of this store within the commercial district… a-after all, it did not even exist before today!" the other boy tried to explain, as he wiped his brow with a pocket handkerchief.

"That would be the Card's effect, Master," Ikaros went on, her expression as blank as usual. "It created the store that the other Master wanted."

"Other… Master?" Eddy asked, surprised at her name for Ed.

"You, and that other boy… you may not be my Masters, but I see no reason not to fulfill your requests… with my Master's permission," she explained, and Edd scowled a little. "This store, and everything in it… it was created to satisfy his desires."

There was a moment of silence, before he turned to look at the girl. "…even her?" he indicated her, who was too busy talking to Ed to hear them. She nodded.

"I created the ideal store for him. If his ideal store would have such a thing, then it was created." There was more silence now, the other Eds not quite sure how to take this revelation. Edd, in particular, was completely taken aback by learning this girl was not exactly 'real'.

Before he could say anything else, however, Ed ran towards them. "Come on, guys!" he yelled, grabbing them by the hand and pulling them away. "Let's go to the happy place room!"

Edd wheezed as he was dragged so hard. "E-Ed! Calm down, you don't have to be so pushy!"

"Stop that, Lumpy!" Eddy complained, but Ed was too far into his happy place to listen to them again. The Asian girl just stared at them, trying to keep her sweet smile.

"It seems mister Ed will be a very amusing customer…!" she said, her gaze unwavering. "I hope he'll come over quite often, too!"

* * *

><p>It wasn't until much later that Edd was back in his room, lying on his bed. His face was scrunched in thought, as he stared at the ceiling.<p>

It was all he could do to not stare at Ikaros, who was sitting on her knees, heels placed beneath her hips. She was close enough to be uncomfortable, and staring at him at all times, not asking him any particular questions.

It was weird to be treated like that, overall. He… really wasn't used to having a girl in his bedroom, much less one like Ikaros. Not to mention the fact that trying to get her to stay in other rooms had proved rather fruitless… but well, how else would he explain the chain still attached to his hand?

And of course, there was the rest of the day. Her ability to summon anything anyone asked for, no questions asked, and her perfectly submissive behavior… seeing Ed and Eddy get what they wanted so easily was beyond his normal understanding. Things never went so easily for them, and there was nothing that should change this. So why…?

"What a day…" he groaned, unhappily. He sure hadn't expected any of this, when he left his house this morning. And he felt so tired, awfully so…" At least tomorrow should be coming soon…"

"…Master?" Ikaros asked him, and he turned away from her, eyes closed.

"Ed, Eddy… you two can be so irritating, sometimes…" he muttered, already half-asleep. "Sometimes, I wish you'd actually be nice and proper gentlemen like myself…"

Ikaros was silent, as she took those words into account. Within seconds, Edd was already completely asleep, not even getting under his sheets. Not long after that, she closed her eyes and bowed before him, her head resting by the frame.

"As you wish, Master."


	4. Desires 3

Thank you all for reading! I'm glad that you enjoyed chapter 3 enough to read it and even favorite it! But still… three new favorites? It's even less than the first chapter… not that good.

There's also several reviews! Hooray! Let's answer them:

Lewamus Prime: Thanks for reading, kid! Well, the answer for your question comes up in this very chapter, which is good. But what's not good is your last review, which you'll notice was deleted…

*sigh* Look, I'm going to be blunt now, and this applies to everyone. I, the person writing this, am following the official release of the series. I am not following it online and I am following it quite slowly. In fact, volume 16 was released only last month here. This is important because your last review was sufficiently spoilerful to the events of that volume and the next one. Yes, I understand you did not say what happened, but this doesn't change some facts.

I'm a nice guy. But I am bad at handling spoilers. In fact, I am HORRIBLE at them. And that's why I want to ask you all to stop doing that. Please. It makes me want to work less on this story if I have to deal with people posting spoilers.

Want me to do something? Go ahead and suggest! But suggest stuff that doesn't have to do with Sora no Otoshimono. I already have as many ideas as I need about the events here. Other series to cross over would interest me more.

Winky Keaton: Thanks for reading, kid! Thanks for the tidbit on Jupiter's satellites too. As for your question, Ikaros doesn't like any of the Eds yet; she doesn't really have emotions after all…

irnzenmonk: Thanks for reading, kid! Hope you enjoy this chapter, too!

drake202: Thanks for reading, kid! And you summed things up in one sentence. Which is basically the main reason why Tomoki was sympathetic in the original, of all things…

Rexfan1333: Thanks for reading, kid! Hope you enjoy the next chapters, too!

Alfonse08: Thanks for reading, kid! And yeah, although the current arc is still the one most similar to the original as it is, I'm hoping to make it more of my own creation in the future.

And for the rest of you, enjoy!

Today was another fun, summer day, so Edd wasn't too concerned about such things. It was not altogether uncommon for his parents to have left the house in a manageable state, after all, and the less he saw of Ikaros, the better. As the morning went on, however, he was surprised to see that neither Ed nor Eddy had made their way to visit him yet. Quite odd; they were often coming over to visit first thing in the morning, since he often spent his days in his room until they came over to bother him.

And yet, there he was, with no hair nor hide of them to be found. So strange.

Edd walked out the door, deciding to go visit Ed. Usually it was because of some problem with his sister, and he was sure that Sarah had gotten in the way already. Besides, even if Ed's room was the second or third-to-last place he would ever want to enter, there was still some level of charm to its off-putting, fetid stench and unwelcoming colors.

Anything was better than this odd loneliness he was starting to feel.

The sockheaded boy went towards Ed's basement, seeking the small window opening. It was the easiest way to visit him, considering how Sarah could often be a bother, and so he pressed on it gently.

Much to his surprise, however, it refused to budge. A check on the inside was difficult, too, because the window seemed to be barred one way or another. "Weird…" he uttered, before heading to the entrance. Was something wrong?

Knocking on the door led to no immediate answer. Odd. He was about to knock again when it opened, and Edd's incoming words were immediately silenced.

Standing in front of him was Ed… but with a few significant differences. For one, he didn't smell. Although Edd was used to it already, the fact was that Ed had such a strong and easily identifiable smell to him that even the few baths a month he took could never remove it fully. And yet, there he was, smelling with a distinct acorn and lemon scent that he only knew from one source.

Another was that his hair was… well, not 'combed', certainly, but also not its natural buzzcut. Ed resembled more and more the time he had cleaned up and become popular, but with a few odd details which kept Edd from accepting that.

Namely… Ed looked a lot like _himself_, in all honesty.

"…Ed?" Edd let out, after a few seconds of silence. "Is that really you?"

"Oh, if it isn't my good friend Eddward!" Ed declared, in a very unusual manner; instead of blurting it out like he usually did, he was speaking in a polite yet excited manner, not too different from what Eddy had dubbed 'a twitchy chihuahua'. "How have you been this fine morning?"

"I-I'm fine, myself…" Edd hesitated, feeling a little odd. "Ed, may I ask you what has prompted this sudden change in your behavior?"

"What are you talking about, Eddward?" Ed replied, sounding quite confused. "I've always been like this!"

"That's not possible! Why, Ed, just yesterday you were still" Edd's voice trailed off, at that point. "…Ed, where is your green jacket?"

"What are you speaking about, Eddward?" Ed asked. Indeed, his notorious green jacket was no longer anywhere in sight, just like his red and white striped shirt or his loose pants. Instead, he wore a respectable red shirt and a pair of blue shorts with socks that reached to his knees and above, much like Edd himself did. "I would never wear a green jacket! It would look completely out of place with my outfit!"

That… was sort of sensible. It was the exact same type of argument _Edd_ would have used if he were forced to permanently wear Ed's jacket.

Which was why he felt so uncomfortable about it.

"Ed! Are you trying to mock me again?" he asked, a little frustrated. "Wasn't once enough? Did Eddy put you up to this?"

If Ed was playing a trick, he seemed awfully blind to it. "I have no idea what you are talking about, Eddward. I am quite busy today, unfortunately, and I will not be able to spend time with you, if you are going to behave in such a manner."

Busy? Ed? Although Edd was hardly the type to believe in Eddy's nastier thoughts, it was a fact that the big guy was just not the type to be 'legitimately' busy. "And what, pray tell, would be taking so much of your time today?"

"For your information, Eddward, I am currently doing the chores for my father, my mother, and my younger sister."

Those words made his jaw fall to the ground so hard, it nearly cracked the floor. "W… what?"

"As I said, I am currently busy with chores. My father, my mother, and my younger sister all need my help, and I am glad to supply it in any way possible." There was absolutely nothing in what Ed was saying that even slightly suited him. The taller boy was speaking rather haughty, a little coldly and off-putting but with a certain excitement at the thought of performing duties which would satisfy others.

Not unlike how _Edd_ would react at the idea of performing his chores.

"E-Ed… what are you…" he stammered, seeing all the details which he had missed earlier, but that now could tell so well. The clean skin, after sufficient immersion in precisely clean water. The way he wore carefully-chosen clothes that had not been left in the floor for days on end. The way his eyes were blinking correctly at all times, without missing a single beat!

This wasn't Ed he was looking at. This… it was _him_!

"ED!" Sarah's voice came from the inside, shrill as ever. "COME HERE ALREADY!"

"I am going, my little sister!" Ed turned to reply to her. "I am simply speaking to Eddward about"

"DOUBLE-D'S HERE?!" She didn't even finish talking, and was already running downstairs, towards the Eds. With a tackle that could've made a football player proud, she slammed onto the hat-wearing boy, the two of them rolling on the grass for a few seconds. "Hello, Double-D!"

"S-Sarah." Edd was not very relieved to see her straddle him like that, mostly because she was crushing his ribs with her legs. "W-what a fine day we're having?"

"It got better now that you're here!" she told him, with a big smile that wouldn't be that out of place on a shark. "Wanna hang out?"

There were a lot of words which could be used here, and most of the ones which would not result in pain for Edd were ones he would not want to use. "A-actually, Sarah, I was wondering…" he started, uncomfortably feeling a few ants brushing against his backside. "Have you noticed anything strange with Ed today?" There was always a possibility this was just a phase and that he would be broken out of it soon enough, but Edd was not one for deciding on theories without any evidence.

"Well, yes," the redhead said, with a grin. "He's a lot more fun to bully around today. And he's doing my chores for me without even complaining!"

Perhaps he shouldn't have relied on the sociopathic nature of Ed's sister to help him. "I-I see…" he let out, nervous. "W-well, Sarah, don't you think it might be a little problematic if Ed remains like this? A-a-a-after all, he might not be sound of mind, anymore…"

Sarah barely crushed his head as she slammed a fist on the ground. "NO WAY! I like Ed the way he is now! Do you _comprende_?!" she yelled at him, and Edd barely restrained himself from saying anything that might draw her ire further, regarding her grammatical unbalance.

"Actually, my little sister, combining words of different languages in the same sentence is a mistake of the highest"

Thankfully for him, Ed had no such qualms, as Sarah turned on him. "DID YOU JUST SAY I MADE A MISTAKE?!" she yelled again, getting off Edd and stomping her way towards her brother.

"W-well, to be quite honest…" Ed went on, starting to sweat as his sister grabbed onto his collar, "yes."

Edd now had what amounted to a view of his own life from the outside, as Sarah proceeded to unleash her classic bratty violence upon her brother. Normally the hat-wearing boy would have tried to involve himself, but two things kept him from doing as usual.

One of them, obviously, was his own concern regarding Ed's new state. He could tell that Ed was not himself, but what was causing it, he didn't know, and perhaps… well, it wasn't as if violent shocks to the head hadn't fixed some of their issues in their past.

The second one was Jonny running into the scene and latching on to him.

"Double-D! Boy, are we glad to see you!" he said, Plank on hand.

"Jonny? W-what's going on?" Edd asked, worried if there were more changes like Ed's going on. The kid didn't answer at first, simply pulling on him to come along.

"It's about Eddy! You've gotta see this!" he said, before turning to his piece of wood/imaginary friend. "What? No, of course Double-D would find it awesome, Plank! You know he's into that kind of stuff!"

"Eddy?!" Edd hadn't exactly paid attention to anything else after hearing that. "What happened to him?"

"Kevin said not to spoil the surprise too much!" Jonny answered, before turning to Plank again. "Oh, come on! I'm not a blabbermouth!"

"W-where is Eddy now, Jonny?!" As he shook the bald boy repeatedly, Edd couldn't help but panic. If Kevin was involved, then this was going to be terrible, and the least he could do was keep his friend from getting in too much trouble.

"Over at the Playground, Double-D, you just have to go and" Before he could finish, the taller boy was already gone, leaving him alone. "Boy, Plank, some people are just plain impolite, wouldn't you say?" There was a pause, as Plank told him something. "What? Where did you learn that kind of language, mister?"

As he arrived at the Playground, there were many things Edd was expecting to happen. Eddy being strung up and tied into knots again was somewhere around the halfway mark of his expectations, with the more likely situations including simply a beating and the more outlandish situations being closer to the hypno-disk incident.

"Oh, please, Kevin, do tell me what you want me to do!"

He had not expected to see this, however.

"Alright, Dorky, just sit down here."

Eddy was currently looking as, well, refined as Ed had been before. In itself, already a warning sign given the situation; what made this troublesome, however, was that he had on a very unnerving smile, as he sat down on the merry-go-round, facing the back. Kevin and Nazz were watching him, with their own amused expressions.

"Like this?" he asked, sweating nervously but all smiles nonetheless. Just like Edd would do.

"Yeah… like that. Don't let go." When Kevin suddenly spun the merry-go-round at extreme speeds, the short boy began screaming loudly, as he felt the G-forces impacting his body repeatedly. Edd ran towards the scene, quite concerned now.

"STOP!" he yelled, and Kevin frowned. With one foot, the jock managed to stop the merry-go-round, sending Eddy spiraling out. "Eddy! Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine, Eddward, don't speak so loudly…" he uttered, quite dizzy. Shaking his square head to get the spinning to stop, he smiled at Edd. "Kevin and I were simply performing one of many experiments on the effects of high gravity on the human body. It's amazing what one can learn in these situations!"

Those words made Edd take a step back, at least mentally, as he turned to face Kevin and the others. "Is that… true?"

"Of course it is, Double-Dork. 'Edward' over there is helping us with our science project." There was at least one thing incorrect with that statement, but Edd couldn't figure it out himself just yet. "We're finding out how the human body deals with things like spinning really hard on the merry-go-round, like he said."

"Or when you use a really strong weight on a seesaw!" Nazz added, all smiles as she pushed Eddy towards the aforementioned seesaw. The poor boy was too dazed by her beauty to react, making his friend scratch his hat uncomfortably.

"See, Eddward? It's perfectly fine!" Eddy said, as he took a seat on the bottom side, not seeing Nazz take some distance. "We're just doing some experiences, and"

The next line was replaced by a scream as the boy was suddenly sent flying into the air, after Nazz performed a triple jump and landed on the seesaw as violently as she could. Edd could only watch as Eddy yelled in fear of heights, just before hitting a pidgeon. "EDDY!"

"Nice one, Nazz!" Kevin said, quite happy as the two of them did a high-five. "Not only do we know what happens when a dork is sent flying up in the sky, but we also know now how he looks when he hits a bird on the way down!"

"Score!" she said, neither of them noticing Edd was almost fuming.

"Have you no shame?! Eddy's life is in serious danger! He could be dead or worse from all these tricks!" His outburst was not enough to get through to Kevin, unfortunately.

"Hey, the dork asked for it." He crossed his arms. "Walked in here asking us what he could do to help. Man, he's so pathetic!"

"Tell me about it…" Nazz shook her head. "You guys really are alike, you know? So polite, so helpful…"

Edd suddenly paled as he realized that she was coming closer, looking adorable in a manner that made him uncomfortable everywhere. "Hey, Double-D, why don't you come over to help us with our project?"

He needed a few seconds to recompose himself. "W-w-why, I would be glad to hel" It wasn't until he saw a bruised Eddy walk in, all smiles despite the pain – and honest smiles, unlike what he usually had – that he stopped himself. "lp myself to a little visit to Eddy's parents…"

"Oh, no need to be a bother, Eddward!" Eddy told him, coming closer despite Kevin and Nazz's sudden worry. "You know our parents are never around. They will only be back quite late today, as always… we have the whole day to continue learning more about life and science"

Again, that sounded awfully familiar and close to home. "…Eddy, we have to go."

"What?" Now even Eddy was surprised. "What's wrong, Eddward?"

"You're what's wrong! Everything is what's wrong! You and Ed are behaving completely unlike your normal selves, and this is outside all reason!" He placed one hand on Eddy's shoulder. "Come on, Eddy, let's go home and"

"Hold it, dork." That wasn't good. "Where do you think you're going?"

Edd turned to face Kevin, his frown changing to a nervous stare as he realized the other kid was quite unhappy now. So was Nazz, now that he thought about it…

"I-I'm taking Eddy back home, to try and understand the changes that have gone through him…!" he stuttered, growing quite nervous as the two of them were advancing on him. "I-I'm sure you can understand just how b-beneficial understanding these effects would be…"

"Yeah, I'm sure I can," Kevin replied, before growling. "But you know what? I don't have to!"

One of his hands latched onto Eddy, pulling him over to Nazz. "We have what we want: a friend who's willing to go through these experiments for our benefit. Isn't that right, Dorky?" he asked, moving closer to the short boy at this point, who was currently half-embraced by Nazz and steaming out of his ears.

"Y-y-yeah! It's completely right, Eddward!" he let out, barely paying attention to what was happening to him. Edd paled as Nazz started dragging him away, slowly and carefully.

"Eddy, wait!" he tried to argue, but before he could reach back, Kevin had already advanced further, both of them face to face. "K-Kevin, please! You can't keep hurting Eddy like this, it's not fair!"

"Not fair? Not fair is what you dorks have been doing to us our entire lives!" Kevin retorted, forcing him back. "Why don't you just accept your just desserts over it, Double-Dork?"

Edd might've said something, but he had just pressed himself against Rolf now, and the neurosis suddenly triggered. "Why, if it isn't the Head-in-the-Sock-Ed-Boy! You must be here to indulge in the feather and tar-ing of your no-good friend, yes?" the blue-haired boy asked, quite chipperly.

"No, Rolf. It seems like the 'Head-in-Sock' Dork would rather stop our little fun," Kevin told him, and Rolf's expression changed at once to something a little more unrecognizable.

"Oh? And perhaps he would also like to challenge Rolf for the right of his Great Nano's Pantaloons, then?" he said, getting in on his face too. "Because that is how likely your chances are, Ed-Boy!"

"G-gentlemen, please! Can't we settle this matter without such a response?" Edd asked, feeling unfortunately quite nervous at this point. Kevin grinned.

"What do YOU think, dork?" he asked, before slamming one fist against an open palm.

By the time Edd was finally home again, it was far past noon already. The table had been set for lunch, by his parents it seemed, and there was still lunch there left to cool. Instead of simply going for it, however, he went towards the fridge, noticing the sticky note left by his parents. For the first time in recent history, there were no orders in the sticky note, but an admonishment; his having not set the table was one thing, but refusing to be there for lunch was reprehensible behavior. There would be words directed at the other Eddwards' parents later, once they had returned from work, along with an extra dose of chores he would have to do – including mowing the lawn.

Although he read the note, Edd's mind was nowhere near it. A part of him had wished his parents were less severe in their vegetarianism, as the lack of a slab of raw meat meant he could not use it to help with the pain in his bruises and black eye. Of course, raw meat was quite unsanitary and disgusting and only really effective in things like cartoons, but for once Edd simply did not want to think about the logicality of things. How was he supposed to explain or understand the sudden changes in Ed and Eddy's psyches?

Lunch was a silent affair, after he had cleaned himself. A cold soy bean paste and chicken salad was hardly delicious in the state he was in, and the idea that his friends might be actually enjoying similar meals from their parents rather than their standard gross and unhealthy food was no relief. That was only a guess, of course, because considering how things were he highly doubted that they were actually eating food like his, even if he had this unpleasant and nagging feeling that things were more different than he wanted to accept or believe.

It wasn't until he had stopped by his bedroom to prepare himself for the incoming chores – and to try and get some rest – that he saw one last unfamiliar sight, even if it was one that was becoming awfully familiar to him now.

Ikaros was waiting for him, by the side of his bed.

"Y-you!" he cried out, nervous. She stared at him for a few seconds, before he mustered the will to speak up. "You did something, didn't you?!"

"Master?" she asked him, but he ignored that.

"Yes! You're the reason why my friends are acting so weird, aren't you? Admit it!" Edd snapped, but Ikaros' face remained blank. "What did you do?"

"I have only followed your orders, Master, and nothing else." That didn't assuage the hatted boy in any way. "This includes your last order from before you fell asleep, yesterday."

Now that was a surprise. "What do you mean, 'last order'? I didn't"

"You did, Master," Ikaros insisted. "You wished for your friends to become nice and proper gentlemen, such as yourself." His eyes widened at that moment, and he was about to speak up, but she went on before he could. "Analysis revealed that your friends would never be able to become like this naturally, as their mindset and behavior are simply too incompatible with your mindset and behavior. As such, the only possible result was to replace them with two individuals who would have this same mindset and behavior, unfiltered by their different life experiences. This replacement will become complete within twenty-four hours of the initial order."

The things in Edd's table fell onto the ground, as he pressed his hands against its surface. His face showed complete fear and shock, horror and awe included, as he realized the full depth of Ikaros' words. Whatever power she held, it was enough to do something like this, and being faced with its full effect was too much for him to take.

"Master…" That damned word. Edd flinched as he heard it, turning away at once. "Have I done something wrong?"

A part of him wanted to blame her; he had never wanted any of that! It wasn't an order, it was just an accident! He had only been so tired that he spoke what had been through his mind, and…

…that was what kept him from blaming her. Even if he was still shocked and wanted to just blame her… the truth was, this had not been the first time he had felt Ed and Eddy were wrong, for being themselves. He had prided himself so much on his knowledge, on being the smarter member of their little trio, of being polite and orderly and of respecting all rules… that he sometimes had come to dislike, quite greatly, the fact that neither of the other Eds was enough like him. He remembered the times when Ed had been disappointed that they wouldn't do a single movie marathon together, Edd having disapproved of his choices of movies or comics so often, or the time when Eddy had convinced them to wear that ridiculously tight set of swimming briefs for the pool party… a type of occasion that had become harder and harder to find in his memories, and not for lack of trying.

How often had he denied his friends, because they weren't so much like himself? And now that he had seen what they would be like if they were…

"You have to undo this…" he said, breathing slowly. "You have to change them back!"

"I cannot." Those words chilled him completely. "I cannot undo your order, Master."

"But… but why not?! I didn't mean to! It was just an accident!"

"I can only obey orders I am given… not question, alter, or undo them." Edd's arms felt even weaker than usual now. "I am sorry, Master, but I cannot undo your order."

"But, but then…" He shook his head, trying to think of a way out. "The-the time! You said it would take twenty-four hours, and I am refusing the order, so"

"You misunderstood me, Master. This twenty-four hour period is how long it will take before your memories become fully integrated to their presence. Once that time is up, you will no longer remember your previous friends."

"…no…"

His voice was a whisper. Edd fell to his knees, his hand accidentally feeling the chain around his hands. That damned chain… he couldn't stand it! It was just another reminder of what had happened, of what he had done!

Ikaros kneeled before him, looking at him with that same blank look as always. "Forgive me, Master. I did not know this was not your intention… that you had not meant what you said."

Every word stung. He had meant every word of it – he simply had not expected it to be real. He had been selfish and not thought about the consequences, just as he had thought of Ed and Eddy. This whole thing was his fault, and Ikaros had just been the one to do it for him.

His silent tears didn't please the Angeloid. She stared at him for a few seconds longer… "Master… do you wish for me to destroy myself?"

Bitter anger was in his heart, whether he knew it or not. "…sure," he uttered, not looking at her. "I mean… what else is left, right?"

"…yes, Master." She closed her eyes, even as a flash of light. A curious-looking gun had appeared on her hand, resembling more a toy than a real weapon thanks to its cutesy wings, shape, and pink color. Ikaros pointed it towards her own head, pulling on the safety.

A gunshot rang through the room.


End file.
